Daniel Tumpal Hamonangan Aruan, Roberta Crouch and Pascale Quester
This paper aims to examine the relative importance of country of brand (COB), country of service delivery (COSD) and country of person (COP) in consumer evaluation of hybrid…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the relative importance of country of brand (COB), country of service delivery (COSD) and country of person (COP) in consumer evaluation of hybrid services.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data (N = 1,071) from Australia, Indonesia and Singapore, a conjoint analysis experimental design explored empirically the importance of country of origin (COO) effects in three service contexts: search, experience and credence.
Findings
The analysis reveals that the relative importance of COP was the highest for credence services, while COB was the strongest for experience services.
Practical implications
For firms operating offshore, companies must understand that the COO construct is multi-dimensional for services, as it is for tangible products and not limited only to COB as traditionally thought. At least two other distinct dimensions – COSD and COP – can play significant roles as predictors of service quality expectations. Companies must consider the implications of service type, according to the search-experience-credence continuum to inform staffing decisions and managing customer expectations.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the literature by extending the understanding of country image effects in the context of hybrid service provisions, particularly in the view of customer expectations of services with multiple country-of-origins. Although there have been several studies examining the effects of COO on services evaluation, no empirical study has examined the effects of multiple COOs simultaneously from the perspective of location where the service is delivered (COSD) and individuals who deliver the service (COP), in addition to the effect of COB origin.
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Liudmila Tarabashkina, Pascale G. Quester and Roberta Crouch
Studies to date have focused on one or very few factors, rather than exploring a host of influences associated with children’s consumption of energy-dense foods. This is…
Abstract
Purpose
Studies to date have focused on one or very few factors, rather than exploring a host of influences associated with children’s consumption of energy-dense foods. This is surprising as multiple agents are relevant to children’s food consumer socialisation (parents, peers, social norms and food advertising). This study aims to address these gaps and offers the first comprehensive empirical assessment of a wide cluster of variables.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study was undertaken with children aged 7-13 years and their parents/main carers, collecting family metrics from parents and data directly from children. Structural Equation Modelling was used to estimate a series of interdependence relationships in four steps, revealing the increased explained variance in children’s consumption of energy-dense foods.
Findings
The inclusion of multiple potential factors increased the percentage of explained variance in children’s consumption of energy-dense foods. The models explicate which factors relate to frequent consumption in children, and clarify various indirect influences on children through parents.
Originality/value
For the first time, a wider range of variables was integrated to maximise the percentage of explained variance in children’s behaviour, providing policy makers and social marketers with novel insights regarding areas that need to be prioritised for consumer education. Both direct and indirect relationships were assessed. Data were collected from parents and their children to provide an original methodological contribution and richer data for investigation.
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Kristina Haberstroh, Ulrich R. Orth, Tatiana Bouzdine-Chameeva, Justin Cohen, Armando Maria Corsi, Roberta Crouch and Renata De Marchi
Extending research on cultural differences in aesthetic appreciation, the purpose of this paper is to show how a more interdependent self-construal, a cultural and individual…
Abstract
Purpose
Extending research on cultural differences in aesthetic appreciation, the purpose of this paper is to show how a more interdependent self-construal, a cultural and individual difference variable related to one’s social self, impacts the influence of visual harmony on consumer evaluations of marketing artifacts’ attractiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained via three studies from a total of 1,498 consumers in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, and Italy. Marketing visuals included the design of products, packages, typefaces, and logos. Self-construal was both measured and manipulated.
Findings
The results indicate that a person’s self-construal moderates the effect of visual harmony on attractiveness. Specifically, the positive effect of visual harmony on attractiveness – through self-congruity – is more pronounced with consumers possessing a more interdependent self-construal, and with products that are more hedonic than utilitarian.
Practical implications
Given the pivotal role attractiveness has in influencing consumer behavior, understanding what differences, at the individual and cultural levels, impact the harmony-attractiveness relationship helps marketers to better match the visual design of marketing stimuli to target audiences.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to show how the social-self impacts consumer response to marketing visuals. Further, value stems from adopting a holistic perspective on design, clarifying the process mechanism, and identifying boundary conditions.
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Ulrich R. Orth, Roberta Carolyn Crouch, Johan Bruwer and Justin Cohen
The purpose of this study is to adopt a functional perspective to integrate and extend three streams of research, the first distinguishing between global affect and discrete…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to adopt a functional perspective to integrate and extend three streams of research, the first distinguishing between global affect and discrete emotional episodes, the second highlighting the capability of places to elicit emotions and the third demonstrating the differential impact of discrete emotions on consumer response. Doing so shows that four positive place emotions have a significant and variable influence on consumer purchase intentions for brands originating there.
Design/methodology/approach
A focus group pilot corroborates that places relate to contentment, enchantment, happiness and pride, which impact consumer response. Study 1 uses landscape photographs to show the four place emotions influence purchase intention for bottled water. Study 2 retests the impact of place emotions, using short vignettes and establishes the moderating role of product hedonic nature. Study 3 replicates emotion effects, corroborating their non-conscious nature and establishing their impact in the presence of place cognitions.
Findings
Together, the empirical studies provide evidence for effects of four discrete place emotions, especially with hedonic products and under conditions of cognitive load. Effects are robust when a person’s mood, buying volume, category knowledge, impulse buying tendencies and place cognitions are included as controls.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to a better understanding of the emotional dimension of origin effects by adopting a novel, theory-based perspective on discrete positive place emotions impacting consumer response.
Practical implications
Managers invest substantially in places to elicit positive feelings, gravitating toward the view that all they need to do is create a global positive effect with consumers. The study informs this perspective by demonstrating how discrete emotions influence consumer response.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to examine discrete positive place emotions as possible drivers of consumers’ purchase intention.
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Sihem Dekhili, Roberta Crouch and Omar El Moussawel
Whilst country-of-origin (COO) effects have been studied extensively since the 1960s, little research has explored these effects with respect to ecological considerations. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Whilst country-of-origin (COO) effects have been studied extensively since the 1960s, little research has explored these effects with respect to ecological considerations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the COO ecological image (CEI) construct by defining its facets across consumers and professionals from two different countries, namely, France and Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
Because of the exploratory nature of the research, the authors used two qualitative techniques, namely, semi-structured interviews and focus groups.
Findings
Findings indicate the CEI construct is composed of eight dimensions, namely, policy, technological, economic, people characteristics, natural, climatic, historical and eco-product features.
Research limitations/implications
The research provides insights into the CEI construct and justifies future studies to develop a scale measure for it. However, the generalisability of the results must be considered limited due to the qualitative exploratory nature of the study.
Practical implications
The research offers implications for companies and policymakers by allowing them to understand how consumers form a CEI. It suggests new applications respective to how to leverage positive aspects of a CEI and how to mitigate negative ones.
Originality/value
The study extends the literature on COO by identifying the possible dimensions of the CEI construct, thus providing better insights into the little-explored link between COO and sustainable products.
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Svetlana De Vos, Jasmina Ilicic, Pascale G. Quester and Roberta Carolyn Crouch
With limited research on help-seeking in the social marketing domain, this research takes a unique perspective through the lens of McGuire’s psychological framework examining the…
Abstract
Purpose
With limited research on help-seeking in the social marketing domain, this research takes a unique perspective through the lens of McGuire’s psychological framework examining the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations (or perceived help-seeking benefits) influencing help-seeking attitudes and behaviour in at-risk gamblers. This paper aims to examine the role that response efficacy has on the relationship between perceived help-seeking benefits and help-seeking behavioural intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 used focus groups to explore the positive influence of help-seeking in at-risk gamblers. Studies 2 and 3 used online surveys to further test the direct and indirect impacts of perceived help-seeking benefits on attitudes and behavioural intentions. Structural equation modelling with multi-group analysis (low/high response efficacy) tested the hypotheses.
Findings
Both cognitive and affective psychological motives manifest as distinct intrinsic (well-being, self-esteem and self-control) and extrinsic motivators (social influence) that influence at-risk gamblers’ help-seeking attitudes and intentions to seek professional services. These perceived benefits influence help-seeking intentions directly (for those high in response efficacy) and indirectly via serial attitudinal mediators.
Practical implications
The results provide a guide for practitioners to enhance the promotion of professional help. Practitioners should develop marketing communication messages centred on the specific psychological needs of at-risk gamblers to encourage help-seeking behaviour including an emphasis on assertion, affiliation, independence, utilitarian, tension reduction, ego defence and consistency.
Originality/value
This research is the first, to the knowledge, to examine the psychological motivations that encourage help-seeking in at-risk gamblers, demonstrating that both preservation and growth motives influence help-seeking attitudes and the decision to act.
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Roberta Carolyn Crouch, Vinh Nhat Lu, Naser Pourazad and Chen Ke
Although international product-harm crises have become more common, the influence of the country image (CI) associated with foreign goods in such crises remains under researched…
Abstract
Purpose
Although international product-harm crises have become more common, the influence of the country image (CI) associated with foreign goods in such crises remains under researched. This study aims to investigate the extent to which the CI of a foreign made product influences consumers’ attribution of blame and trust and, ultimately, their future purchase intentions after the product is involved in a crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
A 2 (country) × 3 (crisis type) quasi experimental design was used, with data collected from Australia (n = 375) and China (n = 401).
Findings
CI can influence attribution of blame, subsequent levels of trust and likely purchase intentions. Australian and Chinese consumers have different views when it comes to trusting a company or placing blame, depending on the country of origin or the type of crisis. The direct and positive effect of CI on consumer purchase intentions following a product-harm crisis is sequentially mediated by attribution of blame and trust. Trust is the most powerful influence on future purchase intentions in both samples.
Research limitations/implications
In this research, only one type of crisis response strategy (no comment) was used. Thus, the results of this study must be viewed with caution when considering outcomes relating to other response options. Additionally, the testing was limited to only two samples, focussing on three countries (England, China, Vietnam), and one product context using a hypothetical brand. Further, despite our reasonable sample size (N = 776), the number of respondents represented in each cell would still be considered a limitation overall.
Practical implications
When developing crisis response strategies, managers should take into account the influence of a positive/negative source CI in driving attribution and trust. To minimize the impact of crisis on future purchasing decisions, organizations can leverage positive biases and mitigate negative ones, aiming to maintain or restore trust as a priority.
Originality/value
The study provides cross-country understanding about the significant role of CI during a product-harm crisis in relation to subsequent consumers’ blame attribution, their trust in the focal organization and ultimately their future purchase intentions.
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Svetlana De Vos, Roberta Crouch, Pascale Quester and Jasmina Ilicic
This paper aims to explore the power of appeals based on fear mixed with challenge co-designed with vulnerable consumers in motivating the use of credence services.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the power of appeals based on fear mixed with challenge co-designed with vulnerable consumers in motivating the use of credence services.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative phase (Study 1), comprising focus groups of self-identified at-risk gamblers, revealed a series of conceptual themes for advertising stimuli that were then tested empirically (Study 2) on the likelihood to use credence services in a gambling context. Individual characteristics such as tolerance of ambiguity were also tested for their potential moderating influence.
Findings
In comparison to appeals based on single emotions, fear mixed with the challenge has a significantly stronger impact on intentions to use credence services in at-risk gamblers. Findings confirm the indirect positive impact of fear mixed with the challenge via sequential mediators of involvement with advertising and attitude towards credence service advertising. The moderating role of tolerance of ambiguity on credence service use intentions was confirmed.
Originality/value
The potential of a fear mixed with challenge appeal to motivate vulnerable consumers to seek credence services has not been investigated to date. The findings contribute to both the transformative service research and advertising literature streams by providing valuable insights into promotional campaigns aimed at vulnerable consumers such as at-risk gamblers.
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Roberta Capitello, Claudia Bazzani and Diego Begalli
This study aims to focus on consumers’ preferences towards rosé wine and explore whether and how the consumption context may influence consumers’ choices.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on consumers’ preferences towards rosé wine and explore whether and how the consumption context may influence consumers’ choices.
Design/methodology/approach
Using social networks platform, the authors conducted a choice experiment, to evaluate Italian consumers’ preferences for a glass of rosé in two consumption contexts, restaurant and wine bar. Characteristics of the rosé wine also included price, origin and type of wine. The authors applied a latent class analysis to define rosé wine consumers’ segments and incorporated personality traits in the model.
Findings
The results define three rosé wine drinkers’ profiles: “Wine bar visitors”, “The unenthusiastic” and “Restaurant visitors”. Socio-demographic characteristics and personality traits significantly affect consumers’ membership to the different segments. Who prefers to drink a rosé glass at the wine bar is younger, more opened to new experiences and, therefore, more inclined towards more sophisticated choices. Consumers at the restaurants tend to be more extrovert and sensitive to price.
Practical implications
This study offers insight for practitioners of both wine and hospitality industries in the development of strategies for new products market placement and, at the same time, for academics who are interested in the understanding of behavioural reasoning of consumers’ wine purchase choices.
Originality/value
This research investigates the effect of consumption context on individuals’ preference formation for a less familiar wine, such as rosé in Italy. To the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies explored how personality traits may affect consumers’ wine consumption context choices.